Round Kirk Fell from Wasdale Head
Start Wasdale Head
Getting here Parking: Wasdale Head village green car park (free), 0.0 km from the start (straight line). Parking & buses ↓
Hardest part Severe steepness: Steepest sustained climb about 43% around the 2.6 km mark.
Before you choose
- Between about 2.2 and 2.9 km the line climbs about 275 m in 0.7 km (about 39%) on a path, across ground OpenStreetMap maps as scree near 2.6 km.
- OpenStreetMap maps the stream crossings at about 4.8 km (Sail Beck, below Kirk Fell), 5.7 km, 6.4 km (Gatherstone Beck) and 7.5 km as fords, with no bridge mapped at any of them. The National Trust’s Pillar trail, which shares the Gatherstone Beck crossing, says “Take care crossing the ford when river levels are high” (read 17 Oct 2026). Read about crossing streams in spate before you go.
- At the Sail Beck crossing, about 4.8 km, OpenStreetMap maps a crag about 7 m from the line.
Daylight & turnaround
Daylight is short from October to February — check today’s sunrise and sunset before you set off, and carry a head-torch and spare batteries. On short days, decide your turn-back time before you start.
See also walking in bad weather and today’s conditions.
Route map
Easy 54%Moderate 28%Hard 12%Severe 6%
Heights on this chart and its high point are read from the track itself (a terrain model sampled along the line, or a GPS recording), so a top can differ from its listed height, usually reading lower.
Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).
The elevation profile is under the map; the stage notes follow.
The walk, stage by stage
Wasdale Head → Finish (9.1 km, 630 m)
From Wasdale Head, follow the public bridleway up the valley to Burnthwaite at about 0.85 km, then the track on to cross Gable Beck at about 1.6 km. A public footpath then climbs the slope, and at about 2.2 km the line takes the steep path up towards Beck Head: about 275 m of climbing in 0.7 km, across ground OpenStreetMap maps as scree near 2.6 km. The path eases to Beck Head, the col between Kirk Fell and Great Gable, at about 3.3 km. From Beck Head follow the path west-north-west across Kirk Fell's north side, over Sail Beck at a ford at about 4.8 km, to Black Sail Pass at about 5.1 km. From the pass the public bridleway leads down past Gatherstone Head to the valley floor and back to Wasdale Head.
WaypointsWasdale Head, Burnthwaite, Gable Beck, the steep path, Beck Head (619 m), the Sail Beck ford, Black Sail Pass (545 m), Gatherstone Head, Wasdale Head (finish).
Easy to get wrongThe line goes to the top of neither Great Gable nor Kirk Fell: its highest point, about 640 m, is just south of Beck Head. The desk count for the whole line is 16 path junctions near it, so check each turn against the map, above all at Beck Head and Black Sail Pass.
If you need to get offBefore Beck Head the way off is back down the way you came. If the Sail Beck ford at about 4.8 km cannot be crossed, go back the way you came, over Beck Head. From Black Sail Pass the line itself is the way down to Wasdale Head.
GPX track for your GPS or phone. Planned route · not yet walked
More about this walk
This line does not go to the top of Great Gable: its highest point, about 640 m, is on the slope just south of Beck Head, about 0.55 km west-north-west of the summit and about 260 m below it. A free car park is mapped at the start.
Conditions and timing
Check live conditions in the “From the fells” panel, on MWIS (opens in new tab) and the Met Office mountain forecast (opens in new tab) before you set off.
Getting there and back
Parking
Positions are approximate.
Vehicles are left at their owner’s risk: we list places people park and cannot vouch for any of them. Take valuables with you and leave nothing on show.
Buses
We don’t know yet. Wasdale Explorer (seasonal) serves this area, but we don’t hold its stop positions, so we can’t measure the walk from it — and we won’t tell you to drive on the strength of a gap in our own data. The Wasdale Action Group lists it as running Saturdays, Sundays and bank holiday Mondays from the start of May to the end of August (read 30 September 2026): check before you travel.
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before travelling.
Toilets and refreshments
The essentials
- Arrival A free car park is mapped at the start, and the Wasdale Head Green bus stop about 25 m away. 5 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (OpenStreetMap contributors, Cumbria extract of 24 July 2026, checked 15 October 2026)
- Toilets The toilets mapped about 260 m from the start are the campsite's, for customers. 264 m in a straight line, not a walking distance. (OpenStreetMap contributors, Cumbria extract of 24 July 2026, checked 15 October 2026)
- Refreshments The Wasdale Head Inn is mapped about 250 m from the start. Opening hours are not recorded here. (OpenStreetMap contributors, via Overpass, 15 October 2026, checked 15 October 2026)
- Limitation A steep path with scree mapped beside it near 2.6 km and four mapped fords: not a pushchair route. (OpenStreetMap contributors, Cumbria extract of 24 July 2026, checked 15 October 2026)
Water, shelter & getting away
Treat water from the fell before you drink it. A mapped point is not proof the water is drinkable, so carry your own or use a supply you know is safe. Never drink untreated from a beck, stream or tarn — even clear-looking hill water can carry giardia or cryptosporidium from livestock upstream and leave you seriously ill. Use a treatment method suited to what might be in the water, and follow the device’s own instructions. Boiling and ordinary filters do not make water with dissolved metals or chemicals safe: where that is possible, choose another source.
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors — an absent marker does not mean the facility isn’t there.
Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat
Planning detail
How each grade on this page is set, and the timings stage by stage.
Difficulty profile
Severe overall — hardest: Steepness; terrain not assessed; exposure not assessed on the ground
Five independent axes, not one score. None of them was set on the ground: they are computed from the recorded track and the map, which measures the line rather than surveying the ground.
How we grade: each axis is Easy, Moderate, Hard or Severe, and a route between two bands takes the higher one. Length: under 8 km, 8–14 km, 14–20 km, over 20 km. Steepness, the steepest 500 m of the track: under 15%, 15–25%, 25–35%, over 35%. Terrain, navigation and exposure are judged rather than measured, and each note says why. How we grade.
Pacing
| Summit | Cumulative | Ascent | Time (fast–steady) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finish | 9.1 km | 630 m | 2:52–3:49 |
A fast–steady range from Naismith’s rule, deliberately on the slow side. Breaks, weather, rough ground and the slowest person in your party all add to it. How we time walks.
Access & barriers
Can a dog, a buggy or dodgy knees manage this route?
- Buggy: Stiles or rough going on the route.
- Knees: A long, steep ~38% drop over 250 m around the 5.3 km mark — hard on the knees.
With a dog
Hardest for a dog here: stiles and gates. The steepest stretch is a sustained climb of about 43% around the 2.6 km mark.
- Stiles and gates: A stile of unmapped type at 7.9 km — a dog may need lifting over. (OpenStreetMap, mapped as of 2026-10-15)
- Drops and exposed ground: Not assessed on the ground; the map suggests Moderate. 1 mapped crag feature(s) near the line — check the airy sections.
- Rock and scrambling: Ground underfoot: Not assessed.
- Ways off early: None recorded for this route.
- Livestock, shade and water: Not recorded for this route yet. We never call a stream safe for a dog to drink, so carry enough for both of you. The lead rules, and what to do around cattle, are on dogs on the fells.
On the line: 8 gates · 1 stile (type unmapped)
Barriers as mapped on OpenStreetMap, which can miss some. Spotted one? Tell us (opens in new tab). Barrier data as of 2026-10-15. Access data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass).
Walks from places nearby
- Walks from Ritson's Force — 0.7 km from this start
- Walks from Wasdale — 1.1 km from this start
Straight-line distance from this walk’s start. Those lists hold the routes we have mapped and every Wainwright and Outlying fell within about 5 km of the town, ranked nearest first.